Well-off families should pay fees of up to £20,000 to send their children to grammar schools and the most popular comprehensives and primary schools, a leading headmaster has said.

Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College in Berkshire, said that fees for over-subscribed state schools should be introduced on a sliding scale for parents earning more than £80,000.

All private schools should reserve a quarter of places for children from the 25 per cent of poorest families, whose fees should be paid by the Government, he said. Dr Seldon made the proposals in a pamphlet published by the Social Market Foundation

One of Britain’s biggest accountancy firms will no longer consider an applicant’s qualifications, school or university when selecting trainees for interview, in an attempt to increase the diversity of its workforce